Blue Eyes
by Seguchi Touma
Summary: (Fixed) 13x4 - AU - When his lover dies while he is away, Treize finds himself haunted by a ghost. What really happen that night comes to light in ugly ways that lead to more death.
1. Blue Eyes - Part One

Title: Blue Eyes  
Author: Zoisite NightDragon  
Pairings: 13x4, and any others I stumble into along the way...  
Status: Erm... it's finished in my head... really.  
Disclaimer/Warnings/etc: yaoi, angst, lemon ... I don't own them, so don't sue me. You'll only get an old puter and a pair of spoiled Daschunds and an evil, ill-tempered cat. Probably all sorts of Relena bashing in the future. This will not be all music, of course. I usually use songs for prologue and epilogues for some reason of my own. Very AU. Don't expect to see a Gundam in this. I'll make it up and try to fit the next 13x4 of mine into the timeline. 

_Blue eyes  
Baby's got blue eyes  
Like a deep blue sea  
On a blue blue day_  
  
Holding the reins of his horse, Treize Khushrenada gazed down the long drive to his estate. The rays of the setting sun played across the blades of green grass covering the rolling lawns, made deep shadows in the two rows of oaks that made a natural canopy over the lane. Stepping into that gathering darkness, Treize's eyes never strayed from the house, seeking vainly the thing he knew he never would. The sunken grave he'd been to on the hill had taken that dream and smashed it to pieces at his feet like a delicate vase on a uncaringly hard floor.  
  
_Blue eyes  
Baby's got blue eyes  
When the morning comes  
I'll be far away  
And I say_  
  
There was no sunny face there waiting to greet him, eager arms to be thrown around his waist. There would be no soft kisses spattered across his own lips and cheeks, no more excited questions on where he'd been, what he'd seen, or who he'd met. There were no smiles for him or laughter at the small presents he had in his saddlebags. Never again would he hear the voice calling for him through the empty rooms of his house or the music of a violin drifting to his ears while he worked. Someone had taken his own private star and put it out for a few trinkets. Looking over his shoulder, he could almost see Quatre sitting on the whitewash fence, waving to him and telling him to bring him back a new book from Sanq as he had the day he'd left. He had been wearing the blue riding outfit that Treize had made for him. Blue had been his favourite colour.  
  
_Blue eyes  
Holding back the tears  
Holding back the pain  
Baby's got blue eyes  
And he's alone again_  
  
With the sound of his own steps on the white gravel below, the thought of those eyes he loved to gaze into late at night filling with pained tears haunted him. According to what he'd been told at the Constable's office, thieves had broken into his home while he'd been gone. Perhaps Quatre had surprised them in midtheft or they could have found him sleeping. No one knew. All they did know was that he'd been violently murdered in the hall before the maindoors. It had been with a nightmarish unrealness that he'd stood there in the stuff room of the Constable's office as he'd told him about the fansprays of blood that had reached even the ceiling. He could see too clearly in his mind's eye Quatre screaming his name for help before they finally cut his throat. He had been so small. Couldn't they have just had pity on the weak and made it quick and painless? A strong man could have snapped his lover's neck.  
  
_Blue eyes  
Baby's got blue eyes  
Like a clear blue sky  
Watching over me  
Blue eyes  
I love blue eyes  
When I'm by his side  
Where I long to be  
I will see_  
  
Handing his reins off to one of the servants, Treize wearily climbed the marble stairs that lead to the sweeping porch and glass doors. For a time, his hand rested on the cold knob, staring at the scrubbed clean spot on the floor separated from him by only panes of glass. Even with all that had been done to the expensive stone flooring, dark taints still laid along it like an accusation. If he had been here... if he hadn't gone for that emergency meeting with Relena's advisors... if he had just came home early... or taken Quatre with him, public opinion and talk be damned. Opening the door, Treize moved into the darkening coolness of the hall. Unable to resist the morbid temptation, he crouched beside the spot, fingers straying across the splattered patterns now part of the stone. Quatre... gone...  
  
_Blue eyes laughing in the sun  
Laughing in the rain  
Baby's got blue eyes  
And I am home, and I am home again_  
  
Violin music swirled about him without warning, breaking the funeral silence of his home. Standing, Treize's winter night blue eyes snapped to the ceiling above him, wanting to know who would -dare- touch his dead lover's instrument. Whoever it was would be lucky not to end their shift with a rapier ran through them. Taking the stairs two at a time, his thoughts whirled and swarmed like a nest of hornets. The fool was even playing on of Quatre's compositions. A dark scowl painted over Treize's handsome features, twisting it into a bad parody of grief and rage. As he reached the half open door of his bedroom, the door snapped shut in his face, the violin on the other side screeching to a discordant halt as if the musician were startled suddenly or had the bow jerked away. A soft sobbing and a whispered call of Treize's own name came from the other side of the heavy oak door.  
  
"Quatre?" he asked, tugging on the door, the lock on the other side catching and keeping it closed. "Quatre, I'm here. Just let me in. Just open the door. Don't be afraid, little one. Just let me in..."  
  
The fact that he was babbling was lost on Treize as he fought the door. Quatre was here. It had to been someone else they buried thinking it was him. He had been told that the face had been badly destroyed, only the clothing and rare shade of his blonde hair making him as Khushrenada's lover. Stepping back as the cries within became more panicked, Trieze kicked the door as hard as he could, shattering wood and metal apart. Blue eyes lashed from side to side within the now empty room. Tearing through the closets, he sent clothing flying, ripping aside his own racks of suits and uniforms to see if the blonde were hiding behind them in his fright. The blankets were jerked off of his bed and thrown to the other side of the room for him to look under. His own voice was growing ragged and desperate as he kept calling that single name over and over...  
  
Treize sat in the gloom, perched on his own bed that he had pulled apart until one of his servants grew brave enough to venture upstairs. Most were sure that their master had gone insane with the loss of his love. Candlelight splashed across the walls as Petri pushed open the door, letting the warm illumination chase away the shadows. "Master Treize?"  
  
"I heard him in here."  
  
Petri sighed, debating with himself. Master Treize's family had always taken care of his own. Seeing the stricken expression on the lord's face was enough convincing. "I know. We all have. We sometimes see him in the hall looking out the windows for you. He's sometimes up here playing his violin, but when we go to check, its still locked up. Hilde saw him last night in the hall crying and trying to get up..."  
  
Treize's gaze rose to meet the other man's, disbelief slowly turning to belief.  
  
Petri continued, wanting to quail under those empty eyes. "She tried to touch him, but he vanished. Some say they hear him up here crying or running around while they're downstairs."  
  
"Then he's still here..."  


-----------------------------

Part One - Thing That Go Bump in the Night

----------------------------- 

Treize Khushrenada stared at his breakfast; unable to eat more than one mouthful that had tasted dusty and stale in his mouth regardless of all the time one of the best chefs in all the area had taken on it. He and Petri had talked for a time the night before as he allowed himself to be led about like a child, dressed in his nightclothes, and then put to bed. 

"He's not alive, Master Treize. Hilde, Wufei, myself, and your friends, Heero and Duo Yuy buried him."

"But you said…"

"I said we saw him, as in we saw his spirit."

"Spirit?"

Petri had sighed, tucking the covers about Treize at that time, picking up the candle that had lit his way. "I mean that he's a ghost, Master Treize. He is dead. His spirit will roam though until Justice is done or someone puts it at rest." 

Resting his elbows on the table and cradling his face in his hands, Treize could easily believe that. Anything was better than believing that he was fully gone. Rubbing his eyes, the rattling chimes of the front door was harsh on his ears. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to anyone. Rising to his feet, a pair of beetle-black eyes studying him from across the room captured his own. He was used to the formal manner of Wufei Chang, head of security for his home and grounds, but it was different today. There was a coldness there that hadn't been before his trip. Ignoring the insistent call of the door, Treize rose slowly with his gaze still locked on the dispassionate one of the Chinese male's as he lingered in the doorway. "Something I can help you with Wufei?" 

Even the voice that fell from the other's lips was chilled. "No, Master Treize." 

Nodding slowly, he was still mystified at Wufei's behaviour. Was he blaming him for Quatre's death as well? The two had been good friends, especially since it was Wufei's domain to watch over the sprawling forests full of wolves and the occasional bandits as well as keep Quatre safe in his absences due to Relena's demands. Pausing in the doorway, that wonder turned to a dull brand of anger. Just where had Wufei been when he was supposed to be watching over his koibito's safety. It must have reflected in his eyes as he stared straight at him, an ebony brow rising slightly. 

"Is something wrong, Master Treize?" 

Treize forced his fingers to uncurl from the unconscious fists they were trying to coil into. "Where were you the night Quatre was murdered? I thought you were supposed to be patrolling the grounds." 

Wufei crossed his arms before him, indecision flickering through the deep pools of his eyes. Some interior decision reached, the Chinese male's poise relaxed a bit, the frozen blackness of his gaze taking on a hint of warmth and sympathy. "Mistress Dorothy sent me a messenger three hours before it… happened. Said there was a pack of wolves howling about her house. Since it is part of the grounds, I took most of my men and rode out there to hunt them down…" 

Running a hand through his hair, Treize found his gaze drawn back to the stained stones in the front hall, the mute accusation there calling him back again and again. He never heard Wufei cross the room until the male's hand touched lightly on his shoulder in an intimate gesture he would have never attributed to the Chinese boy. At the warm brush of Wufei's breath against the back of his neck, Treize's spine stiffened, half expecting a strike. The words caressing his ear were unexpected at the least. 

"Funny thing is, there weren't even any wolf tracks within a two mile radius of her house. My men and I searched by lantern light with the hounds as well. Nothing. Both she and Princess Relena were most relieved and claimed it must have been the wind that frightened them so." 

Stepping back and away with that same wind like quickness, Wufei touched a finger to his own lips. His ebony eyes leaped towards the hall as Relena and Dorothy Catalonia's voices reached them. Turning on his heel, the huntsman moved out the other hall, towards the back exit. Lips parted to ask a question, Treize could only watch him go. Relena hadn't been out of Sanq. He had been called there by her advisors for a speech she had to make, wanting his advice on how to approach the people. Why would she have been here on Luxembourg Estate when her advisors had said she was nursing a headache from worry? His own headache began thumping sickly in his temples while he tried to smile for the two women rushing towards him. 

Dorothy was a niece, one that he usually got along with, although she could be more than a little stubborn when she believed the situation called for it. This, to Treize, was the reason she would probably remain a spinster and his responsibility for life. Princess Relena, on the other hand, was all things that his niece was not. Her only problem was that the people didn't fully trust her. There was no definable point one could place a finger on and point out, saying this was her big flaw that caused doubt in the people, but more a chain of small actions. She had raised the Food Tax when she had sworn not to months before because farmers were already starving in these cold winter months. Then, she had let the Wilkins brothers go free; proclaiming them innocent in murders that most of the countryside had believed them guilty in. Most whispered that it had been the pair's influential and rich father working on her on their behalf. The last had been her inability to marry. It was unseemly for a girl in her twenties to be unmarried in this land, even if there were many years left for her to bear a son. With her father as old as what he was, it wouldn't be long before the crown was sat on her head. Forcing his smile to at least look genuine, Treize offered his hands to the two women, "My dear niece and Princess. It was kind of the two of you to visit." 

Petri sniffed disdain from behind them as he caught Treize's eye. Both women were brightly attired, Dorothy in baby blue and Relena in pink. Neither even wore a mourning band. All of the servants and Treize himself wore black. Ebony roses had been brought in by Trowa Barton, an old friend of the family's to form wreaths on all the outer doors. They were out of place, especially in a tradition bound butler's eyes, in a house of mourning. 

Both began chattering to him at once, getting out only a few words before the music of a violin overrode them both. It was only a few notes before it died away and sunny laughter followed. Light footsteps raced across floor above them as Quatre's voice came ringing down the stairs to them. "Koi! Come look at the birds on the lake with me. You promised we could go feed the swans before they leave for the winter. 

The hands grasping Relena's and Dorothy's dropped away as Treize ran past them, taking the stairs in leaps as he had the night before. He could catch him, his mind chanted. He could catch Quatre. This was all nonsense about him behind dead. Stopping at the landing, he gaze down the empty hall, all of the doors still shut. Yet, he could still hear the last rills of his lover's laughter as if he were standing in the corridor with him. A small white glove lay on the banister, one Treize recognized as he picked it up carefully. A small 'Q' and 'K' laid on the back of it, a present for Quatre's last birthday. 

The sound of Dorothy's frightened voice came from the bottom of the stairs along with Petri's own. Princess Relena had fainted.


	2. Blue Eyes - Part Two

Title: Blue Eyes  
  
Author: Zoisite NightDragon  
  
Part: 2/?  
  
Pairings: 13x4, and any others I stumble into along the way...  
  
Status: Erm... it's finished in my head... really.  
  
Disclaimer/Warnings/etc: yaoi, angst, lemon ... I don't own them, so don't sue me. You'll only get an old puter and a pair of spoiled Daschunds and an evil, ill-tempered cat. Probably all sorts of Relena bashing in the future. This will not be all music, of course. I usually use songs for prologue and epilogues for some reason of my own. Very AU. Don't expect to see a Gundam in this.  
  
Chapter Two - The Midnight Burial  
  
The clock in the hallway chimed ten as Treize sat staring at the fire before him. In one hand was held a snifter of brandy, and the other held the small white glove within it. A fingertip kept tracing over the intertwined 'K' and 'Q' embroidered in the delicate material. He remembered all too well the day he had given his koi the set of gloves. It had been the day that the blonde had stopped being Quatre Winner and became Quatre Khushrenada. There had been a small ring concealed in the fourth finger of the left handed one, a red gold rose laid on a sea of white gold. In the heart of the flower had been a diamond. There had been no official ceremony, of course, but it had been enough for the two of them.  
  
Sighing to himself, he glanced over to Relena and Dorothy who sat silently on the couch, seeming to watch the flames lick at the logs as well. "Are you well, Princess Relena?" he asked in a quiet tone.  
  
Relena's eyes were tearstained as she twisted her handkerchief through her fingers. After fainting, the rest of the afternoon had been spent listening to Treize's story of what had happened since his arrival back on Luxembourg Estate. Dinner had followed, a silent affair that was more of a farce than an actual meal. None of them were hungry in the least. Now, they were grouped about the fire as the flames threw back too tall shadows on the walls, giving the darkened room an eerie feel. Wiping her eyes one last time, she nodded slowly, "I'm . I'm shocked, Treize. I hadn't known that Quatre had died. Word hasn't reached Sanq yet. You must be disgraced with us dressed like this."  
  
Waving a hand to her brightly coloured clothing, Relena's eyes lowered to the floor once more. Humiliation still burned in her cheeks. As soon as she had been told of what had happened, the princess had excused herself from the room, begging a mourning band off of one of the servants. Oddly enough, it had redeemed her some in Hilde's eyes as the stoic matron of the house had helped the younger woman fix it on her arm. The hair bows had been removed as well as replaced with simply black ones and an ebony shawl laid over most of her dress. Still, in a land bound by traditions, it mortified her to be in a house of mourning and wearing pink.  
  
Treize nodded softly as he rose from his seat, taking her hand gently within his. "Relena, you didn't know. I thought you had, but sending word to Sanq never occurred to me. I didn't know until I got back and was stopped when coming through town."  
  
His dark eyes shifted briefly to Dorothy who met his gaze evenly. His niece had known. Why she was dressed in such bright shades and never told Relena remained a mystery to him. She offered no apology or explanation on her actions, and it didn't appear that one would be forthcoming. Leaving it alone for now, he had no wish to engage her in an argument. When Relena had professed that she had known nothing of Quatre's death, they had already gotten in one debate. His view had been on why she fainted if she hadn't known. The reason had been simple and explained by Hilde to him in embarrassed whispers. The poor girl's stays had been so tight it was a wonder she hadn't done so before. Relena could barely breathe if Hilde were right, and Treize's sudden flight up the stairs as well as Dorothy's shock had overwhelmed her.  
  
Giving Dorothy one last reproachful look, he released Relena's hand and rang for Peter. "I've had rooms already set up for you two ladies tonight if you wish to remain here with the house. well, you know."  
  
"Haunted?" Dorothy offered, standing with her hands planted on her hips. "That's silly, Uncle Treize. The dead stay dead, not spring back to life. It's some servant playing tricks on you, trying to make you lose your sanity or something of the like. There are no ghosts in Luxembourg Estate."  
  
Relena could only stare at her childhood friend, a hand pressed over her mouth in shock. To even raise one's voice in a place where one had died was near desecration. Before she could reply the mournful voice of the violin drifted through the mansion once more, seeming to fill the room they were in with its weeping music. The princess' hand skated along Dorothy's sleeve briefly as the blonde girl stalked past the two of them and into the hall fearlessly. The fingers that had missed Dorothy's wound around Treize's arm instead, glancing up to him for some sort of protection. That hope was destroyed when she raised her eyes to his face. Instead of her own fear or her friend's anger, the man's face bore only an expression of lost joy, of a person seeing their dream once more even if it was only disembodied music. A part of her hurt at that. It had never been a big secret that that she had wanted him or Heero Yuy as a husband. Heero had turned her aside for Duo, marrying that braided baka instead. Now, it seemed that the stories she had heard about Treize and his blonde companion had been true as well. Even dead, Quatre had Treize's heart. Relena was convinced now that all the good men were truly either taken or had no interest in females.  
  
Treize came to himself slowly as the notes died away in the silence of the mansion. Belatedly, he realized that Relena had taken his arm and was watching him with a sadness mirrored by the violin's music. Patting her hand, he sighed softly, "I am sorry. That was one of Quatre's best pieces. Let me show you ladies to your rooms, and Dorothy, stop trying to scare the servants. Wufei might accidentally shoot you with his crossbow, and Peter is old enough to drop dead of a heart attack. Hilde might smack you with a boiling kettle, thinking you're an intruder. Come, Princess."  
  
Stepping out of the study, he offered his glowering niece his other arm, a hint of apology in his gaze even as his lips tried not to twitch with a hint of a smile. The mental image of her sneaking up on Hilde and getting hit with a pot of water was too much for him to keep still about. A candelabrum was gathered in one hand as they moved up the stairs. A giggling laughter drifted down the long corridor as they entered it, the noise seeming to come from the walls themselves. Dorothy raised a small fist, pounding on the wood, "Stop that, you hear me? Stop trying to upset us!"  
  
A soft scratching answered her hit, a low cry coming from under the wood. Quatre's whispering voice came from within the wall, whimpering softly, "Please. don't lock me away in here. Treize! Help me, please, koi. Don't do this."  
  
The blonde woman's face contorted into a witchlike mask of hate as she turned and snatched the candelabra from her uncle, smashing it into the wall. A dull thump answered her as well as the shriek of twisting metal from the impact. A wealthy man like Treize Khushrenada did not pay for cheap lumber. Her own voice was raised in a scream of pure fury as she hit the wall repeatedly, nearly taking off Treize's head when he captured her arms in his own. Lifting her off of her feet and snaring them was the only way he kept from being kicked by her lashing legs. The crying from the other side of the wall went silent as he dragged her back a few steps, calling out to Relena above his niece's cries, "Get Hilde. Tell her to quickly bring some of that special tea for Miss Dorothy. Hurry!"  
  
Relief washed over him as Relena nodded and ran back down the stairs. The 'special tea' was something that he had made for Quatre long ago. His koi had gotten nervous when he had been called to Sanq for the negotiations with one of the neighboring kingdoms. After coming back for the third time to a distraught and insomnia lover, Treize had enlisted some help from the local chemist and physician, Sally Po, on ways he might help Quatre. She had made a blend of tea that solved that problem with natural means. and a small shot of laudanum. Ducking one the punches from the girl in his arms, Treize couldn't have been happier to see Wufei. The huntsman stood watching for a time, his ebony gaze flickering to first the damaged wall and then back to the pair of them. The darkly clad male lingered in the shadows even after Treize's first shout for help, studying them as if they were a new and interesting species of bug that he intended to squash as soon as possible. It was only at his employer's scowl that he finally moved, helping him forcibly restrain Dorothy until she calmed down from her hysterics.  
  
Angered eyes of cerulean blue locked on the huntsman's cold ones of black as she realized he was there. An ugly expression of hate that Treize hadn't believed his niece capable of twisted her lips, drawing them back from her teeth in a near snarl. "You're helping him, aren't you? You're trying to make us all think we're insane. Well, it's not going to work!"  
  
Wufei arched a slender brow, his face impassive. "Help who, Miss Dorothy? Why would I want to do something like that?"  
  
Dorothy shocked them all by spitting into Wufei's face. Even Treize was stunned to silence as he watched the Chinese male wipe his face clean with a cloth, still calmly watching her as he did wolves when on the hunt. Stepping back, he nodded to Treize, "I think she's under control now. I'll make sure to inform Duo tomorrow that you'll need that panel of the wall replaced. If you don't mind, I have a patrol to do. There's word of. wolves. about the forest."  
  
Giving Dorothy one last look, Wufei moved away from the two of them, seeming to melt back into the shadowy hallway as he went back to his rounds. The hand wrapped about Dorothy's forearm tightened as Treize spun her around, holding his temper with more difficulty than she would ever know. A small shake of her slender form accompanied his softly spoken lecture, "What in the name of Hell do you think you're doing? Smashing walls? Spitting on my Head Guardsman? Shrieking down the corridors of my house?"  
  
Eyes that glittered with madness stared back at him, a dry and vicious smile on her lips, "It's him, Uncle Treize. Don't you see it? He convinces everyone you're crazy, and he can have the house and grounds."  
  
Treize could only stare at her for the space of a few minutes, trying to fathom her strange logic. Shaking his head slowly, he slid a hand through his hair, making himself look at least somewhat presentable, "Dorothy, when I pass away or should something happen to me that someone else is needed to look after Luxembourg Estate, then it will go to you. Wufei and the rest of the servants will be kept on if you wish. If not, then they are to receive a year's pay and then go where they wish, but none of them will inherit anything that is mine. With Quatre gone, it will fall into your care."  
  
Stroking her hair gently, a touch to his shoulder brought his attention to Relena as she held the cup of tea out for him. Motioning for her to follow him, Treize carried his still sobbing niece into the study, leaving her on his lap as he slid into his chair. Relena crouched their side, setting the still steaming tea gently into her friend's hands. The silent thanks in Treize's eyes brought a smile to her lips as she laid her head on Dorothy's shoulder, patting her friend's arm gently, "It's just been a stressful day for her, Treize. She's just worried for you."  
  
The Princess' voice trailed off as her fingertips rose to touch lightly against the back of his hand, the blue of her eyes locking on his own as she whispered softly, "I am too."  
  
Treize frowned softly, shifting the now drowsing form of his niece into a more comfortable position that drew his hand away from Relena's. Raised a gentleman, he couldn't tell her to simply take her hand off of him or tell her to leave him alone. He could see why Heero complained about her constantly before, and why Duo refused to let her come visit while he wasn't present to keep his mate out of her reach. Perhaps this was why people didn't trust her fully. How could one trust a woman that needed to always cling to another?  
  
"Relena, I'm fine. It's just Quatre."  
  
A shake of her head sent her chestnut hair flying about her face while her hands clamped onto his own once more. Even her voice lowered into a hurried whisper as if afraid someone would hear, "Treize, it's not. safe here. Come to Sanq with me. You have more than enough money to build another house there or. you can take one of the summer palaces we have! There's two sitting empty now with just the staff on duty. Then you won't have to keep journeying between here and Sanq to help me."  
  
Treize's teeth gritted, lips pressing into a thin line as he rose, cradling Dorothy to him. She had raised the Farmer's Tax while not one, but two of her palaces sat empty? Could the furnishings alone or what she paid people to run them in her absence paid that tax and kept poor farmers from losing their land, their children from starving, or her people from starting to distrust her? "Relena, I appreciate the worry, but I am fine and prefer to stay here. Quatre is here, and I am not leaving him."  
  
Relena hung her head as she stood as well, gathering up the candle to light their way. "Just think about it, Treize. It's not healthy for you to stay here with this haunting or your servants playing tricks on you. You could be happy in Sanq with me. Dorothy could come live with us as well."  
  
A forced chuckle slipped past Treize's lips as he started for the room his niece would be using for the night. "You make it sound as if we would all be living together, Relena. I have no wish to leave my home, a home that has been in my family for five generations now. I will think on it, but I assure you the answer will still be no."  
  
Giving him a smile of nearly painful hope, Relena slipped into her own room, shutting the door softly. He shook his head slowly as he laid Dorothy on her bed, covering her body gently with a coverlet. The truth of the matter wasn't that he refused to leave Luxembourg Estate because of how long it had been in his family or because of how much he had invested in it. It was that Quatre still dwelled here, so he would. Stretching out in his own bed, he sighed to himself, running his fingers over the barren space beside him where he could almost see his blonde koibito laying. Closing his eyes before the tears could start, the distant music of a violin lulled him to sleep.  
  
  
  
Treize was lying on his back gazing up at Quatre as the Arabian lay atop him. A wildflower stroked against cheek, his lover teasing him by occasionally tapping his nose with it. He knew he was trying to take a nap, but the soft giggling and bap with the silken petals kept him from drifting off. Cracking open an eye, he peered warningly at the angelic creature stretched out on his chest. Pure innocence met his gaze, Quatre folding his hand beneath his chin as if in prayer. It would have been the perfect picture if not for the offending flower he was trying to sneak between his fingers.  
  
Snorting laughter, Treize snared Quatre in his arms, rolling atop him and announcing that punishment would now begin. Tickling the blonde mercilessly, the both of them fell into laughter, those delicate hands made for playing the violin batting at his own as he continued his assault. Grass clung to the both of them, and they were sure to catch sixteen flavours of holy hell from Hilde when she saw the stains on their clothing, but all he cared about was that the sun was shining and Quatre was laughing in his arms.  
  
Coldness washed over him. Sitting up in his empty bed, Treize grasped at the covers in his darkened room. The dream he'd been having left him disoriented now, having to reacquaint himself with his surroundings. Tears pricked at his eyes again as he cradled his head in his hands.  
  
"Treize?"  
  
The words seemed to have been whispered from all corners of the room, an almost fearful whisper like that Relena had used earlier. In the full- length mirror across the room stood Quatre himself, his body and white robe washed with bluish light from the moonlight that filtered through the curtains. Even his platinum gold hair bore the azure taints that made his eyes seem darker and the hollows under them deeper. Saltwater tears left glistening trails down his cheeks, one of the cut deeply and stitched closed. The black thread that had been used looked ugly against his pale skin. Thin hands were held before him, fingers wound together as his thumb and forefinger kept turning the ring on his left hand, a sign of nervousness on the blonde's part.  
  
"Treize?"  
  
At the second calling of his name, Khushrenada pushed his covers off of him, approaching the mirror with a painful slowness. He was afraid the image was vanish if he rushed up on it. Touching his fingers to the mirror's surface, a frown overrode his shock. In the glass' reflection, his own was overriding that of Quatre.  
  
Which meant that Quatre had to be standing behind him.  
  
Snapping his head around, he barely caught sight of the boy in the doorway before the apparition stepped backwards and the door was jerked shut. The pounding of Quatre's feet on the hallway runner was unmistakable as was the second sound of a door opening and slamming closed. Throwing his own door open, he began searching the rooms, ignoring the startled calls of Relena and Dorothy as he invaded their rooms. Nothing was found once more, nor was Quatre in any of the rooms.  
  
"I saw him, damn it! I saw him as clearly as I'm seeing either of you right now," Treize shouted at the two women as they tried to calm him down.  
  
"Uncle, I know you think you saw him, but the mind does strange things to us when we're grieving," Dorothy began.  
  
"I am not seeing things! He was standing in my doorway, and when I tried to approach him, he slammed the door shut in my face. I heard him running down the hallway and open another door. I heard it shut when I opened mine, and he's somewhere in this house!"  
  
Hilde slipped into the study in near silence, Wufei shadowing her closely as she sat a pot of tea and cups down on the table. Pouring it, she slid one towards Treize and handed the other to the near sobbing Relena with a comforting glance. The princess took it gratefully, wanting something to steady her nerves. Seeing an old friend and one she had hoped to marry swinging wildly between sanity and insanity hurt deeply.  
  
Touching a hand to her forehead, Dorothy tried reasoning once more, "Uncle, you said his face was cut and stitched. That's not true. You told us that Quatre's face had been cut so badly that there was no way to recognize him except for his hair and clothing. It couldn't have been him that you saw. Why would he appear like that?"  
  
Treize raked a hand through his hair angrily, stalking back and forth like a caged panther. Slumping into his chair finally, he waved a hand helplessly before shrugging. "I don't know."  
  
Dorothy nodded, ignoring Wufei and Hilde as she took a step forward. "And you also said he was wearing a white robe. Hilde told me that he was buried in his blue suit. Why would he use doors anyways? If he's a ghost, why doesn't he just drift through them? Uncle, someone is toying with you."  
  
Wufei spoke up from her side, his head tilted towards him with that same inscrutable expression on his face. "Why don't we exhume his coffin? We'll settle this. I'm curious as to why Quatre appeared with only one cut to him instead of all or none as well."  
  
Shocked silence met the suggestion. The mere thought of disturbing the dead was repellant. It was like laughing in church or throwing mud on a bride. Dorothy was the first to protest, her gaze sharp and cruel on Wufei's own, "We will not be digging him up! He's dead! Someone is running around pretending to be him."  
  
Treize took a sip of his tea to collect his thoughts, still stunned at Wufei of all people saying that they should open his love's coffin. Finishing the cup, he motioned to Hilde for more as he struggled to keep his composure. "No, Wufei. Doing that would solve nothing. I won't desecrate my koibito's grave by disturbing it."  
  
Sharp eyes of black met Treize's own before the huntsman turned back to Dorothy. "Miss Catalonia, I am curious about something else. You said that Treize-sama told you about the condition of Quatre's face and that Duo told you what he'd been buried in. I know Duo never spoke to you. He abhors you. He'd no more speak to you than he would cut his own hand off. I somewhat doubt that your uncle would be coarse enough to tell ladies the gory details of death with two. ladies."  
  
Treize blinked as he processed that information. No, he never had told Dorothy anything of the like. What gentleman would expose a lady to things like that? Duo. he'd known Duo and Heero's longstanding dislike of his niece. Even over a death, he couldn't see them passing civil words. "Dorothy?"  
  
That witchlike mask of hate lay over Dorothy's pretty face once more. Folding her arms, she glared up at Wufei like a petulant child. "You just had to ruin it all, didn't you?"  
  
A shrug from the Chinese youth was all the answer he gave.  
  
Unfolding her arms, a flintlock pistol laid in one of Dorothy's hands, slid from her sleeve. It made sense now in Treize's mind why she had refused to change or put a band on. It would have pressed the material down to where the weapon would have been visible. Dorothy never had been a good liar, so she had taken the easy road. just not given an explanation. Leveling it at Wufei, she scowled darkly. "This complicates things a bit, but if there is one thing I have learned in my life, it is how to adapt to circumstance."  
  
Standing, Treize grappled for the edge of his desk as the room started to slowly spin, his legs giving out from under him. Across the room, Relena sank into a chair, her surprised visage a mirror of Treize's own. Hilde stepped from behind Wufei, sliding the huntsman's crossbow off of his should to aim at the trio. Dorothy nodded with a degree of satisfaction to her before giving Wufei another flash of her brittle smile. "You're not much of a complication, of course. I can shoot you and leave your body in the woods for the wolves or some other creature to eat on. The forest is notoriously dangerous this time of year. Wolves and all, you know. Relena and my dear uncle will be found dead, I'm afraid. Poisoned by the same evil people who killed poor Quatre who had come back for a second robbery. "  
  
Treize tried to steady himself and keep his thoughts in order as he focused on Dorothy, "And who would that be?" he slurred.  
  
"Why me, dear uncle. I killed Quatre." 


	3. Blue Eyes - Part Three

Title: Blue Eyes  
  
Author: Zoisite NightDragon  
  
Part: 4/?  
  
Pairings: 13x4, and any others I stumble into along the way...  
  
Status: Erm... it's finished in my head... really.  
  
Archive: Fanfiction.net and Blue Roses if it's wanted there  
  
Disclaimer/Warnings/etc: yaoi, angst, lemon ... I don't own them, so  
  
don't sue me. You'll only get an old puter and a pair of spoiled  
  
Daschunds and an evil, ill-tempered cat. Very AU. Don't expect to see  
  
a Gundam in this.  
  
Chapter Three - House of Cards Tumbling Down  
  
He was slow to grasp her words even as she spoke them in that sarcastically amused tone. She, Dorothy Catalonia, his niece, had killed Quatre? Treize continued to cling to his desk, resting on his knees but determined to sink no further. "Why? What did he ever do to you?"  
  
Dorothy glanced to Hilde as the matron of the house nodded, jabbing Wufei lightly in the back with the point of the bolt in his crossbow to remind him to keep his hands out and up. Seeing that the huntsman was covered, she rounded on her uncle, resting the barrel of her pistol and few inches from his eyes. That grin of wicked delight still painted her lips, eyes narrowing in revealed dislike of her relative. "What didn't he do to me? You ruined the family name off traipsing about with him. A male! You couldn't even keep your preferences in secret to preserve our dignity, could you? Oh no, not you. Not the golden boy of the clan. You gave him everything that should have been mine. Even in your will! You were going to leave the Estate to him. You see the original plan had been to kill you and then inherit the Estate myself until I spoke to our family lawyer who said you had changed your will. After liquoring the old goat up a bit, he told me about all the changes. The house, the grounds, and three-fourths of your fortune. You left me with a piddling fourth of the family wealth! Those millions in gold should have been mine, not some pretty boy that warmed your bed. So, with you doing that, I was forced to counter. Remember when I was a little girl and you taught me how to play chess? Keep that in mind. You had made your gambit. I made mine and removed a pawn from the board.  
  
"The plan was now for him to meet a tragic end and for dear Relena to come comfort you. Of course, I knew he was dead, but Relena looks like a raggedy crow in black, so I couldn't very well show up like that. Quite frankly, I hate to dress in black anyways. Then, you would marry Relena, and we would all go live in Sanq. Once her fool father was dead, there was only her left to inherit the throne. After all that was established, you and she would meet some sort of end yourselves. I was thinking along the lines of her shooting you and then herself. A pretty murder-suicide. I would be there to save the kingdom as the new queen and only heir to the throne since you two wouldn't be having children. Nice plan, isn't it?"  
  
"You're insane," Treize spat at her, forcing his hazy gaze to stay focused.  
  
"There's a good chance of that, but it really doesn't matter. Most royalty is. I'll still be queen. You see, dear uncle, to make sure I could get what I wanted incase her father died before you two were wed, I had a fake ceremony conducted by a farsighted country priest who will swear up and down that the queen of Sanq wed her secret beau, Treize Khushrenda, on the sly. I even have the certificate to prove it, and there is a record of it in that hamlet. Don't give me that shocked look. Everyone knew you were always running to Sanq whenever she had the vapours or something. People will believe what I tell them to," Dorothy replied, still smiling like the cat that had eaten the canary and had feathers sprouting from her jaws.  
  
"My father is still king," Relena protested weakly, her face a deathly pale shade of white.  
  
Dorothy nodded slowly, her eyes sparkling with her own plans and dreams. "Yes, he is for right now. So tragic that he'll die in the night. You know how heart failure just sneaks up on old people. One of his chambermaids, Une, is a very good friend of mine. She's made sure he meets his end in the night once Hilde gets my message to her. I'll wait a day or so and report your deaths. With the country reeling from the loss of not one, but two rulers as well as their favourite citizen, I will be easily accepted as a leader and queen. Queen Dorothy Catalonia of Sanq. Sounds good, ne?"  
  
"As Master Treize said, it sounds like insanity to me. You'll never get away with it. Too many deaths and witnesses," Wufei commented.  
  
Dorothy slid onto the desk, swinging a leg idly while pointing the pistol at Wufei once more. "That's the beauty of it, Huntsman. There will be no witnesses. Uncle Treize and Relena will be dead within an hour or so. Peter is so deaf that he won't hear a thing. Your torn body will be found in the woods. maybe. Maybe not. I hear that there are a lot of scavengers out there that like to eat dead things."  
  
"You forgot me."  
  
The words were so softly spoken that most within the room thought it was their imagination. The chair behind Treize's desk slowly spun, Quatre sitting within it. He was exactly as his lover had described seeing him in the mirror, his cheek stitched and dressed in a white robe. Close up, Treize dimly realized that it wasn't a robe at all, but one of Wufei's white Mandarin Chinese suit encompassing the slender form. Their differences in height and body size made it pool more about the Arab's limbs. Everyone in the room stared blankly at him, except for Wufei. Reflexes long honed by hunting some of the fiercest creatures in the country gave him the speed he needed to turn on Hilde. His right hand impacted with her stomache hard enough to knock the wind from her as he twisted his crossbow out of her grasp with the other.  
  
The pistol in Dorothy's hand began to shake as her eyes leaped from Quatre to Wufei and back. Waving the weapon at the blonde in the chair, she shook her head rapidly. Blue eyes were wide with fear and mistrust. "Nononono. I killed you."  
  
Quatre nodded softly, hands steepled before him with his chin resting on the tip. "Yes, you did. Cut my face because I was 'too pretty' and then you fed me that poison. You dragged me to Treize's room and hid me in a roll of clothing while you murdered that Wilkins boy and his brother who you had hired to rob the house. All they had to do for you was overpower me."  
  
She nodded slowly, still trying to keep both him and Wufei covered with a single shot gun while the Chinese youth raised his crossbow towards her. "You're not here. You're my imagination."  
  
Quatre lifted his hands before him, palms towards himself to display his fingernails. "You buried the blonde Wilkin's boy, waited until everyone had gone away, dug the coffin up, pulled him out, and then laid me in it. You knew I was still alive with you were shoveling dirt atop me. Look at my nails. Do you know how long I clawed at that wood trying to get free? Dirt rained down on me, filling up my mouth, falling in my eyes, and across my skin."  
  
"You are dead," she repeated in a dull voice, turning the gun back on Wufei.  
  
The snap of the bowstring was sharp in the closed room, the bolt cutting through the air swiftly. Its path carried it through the barrel of the pistol into the Minnie ball within. The force caused a misfire, sending shrapnel back into Dorothy's face and eyes.  
  
Wufei crouched at Treize's side, ignoring the hurt woman as he checked his employer's eyes and pulse. Throwing open the window, he waved rapidly, the sound of hoof beats ringing off of the lane leading up to the house. Treize barely stirred as he felt Wufei loosening his collar and slapping his face lightly, "Quatre." he murmured, eyes rolling in their sockets.  
  
"He's alive, Treize. Stay with me. Sally, Duo, and Heero were waiting in the woods. I thought you had been in on her plans as well, and I couldn't take the chance of telling you. Relena and Dorothy showing up so soon was too much coincidence."  
  
A gentle touch fell on Khushrenda's shoulder, a head of golden locks brushing against his cheek. Frail arms crept about his chest in a tender embrace. Light eyes of blue met his own as a tentative smile touched on Quatre's lips, an unsure quality lingering there. Gazing into his lover's eyes, Treize was still in control of himself enough to notice something wrong. Looking to Wufei, his expression asked the silent question that he could not. A soft shake and lowering of the huntsman's head was all the answer he got as Heero and Sally Po rushed in. Treize found himself being urged onto his back as Sally began treating him. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Wufei wrapping his arms about Quatre and cradling the blonde like a child.  
  
Epilogue - Three months later  
  
Luxembourgh Estate had changed little in the time that had passed. It had taken nearly a month for Treize and Relena to fully recover from the damage near death from poisoning had done to the two of them. Dorothy, Hilde, and Une had been executed, the only punishment in the land for murder or that attempting of such an act in cold blood. Spring had come once more, a change that Treize himself welcomed as he lounged on the curving porch and watched the birds returning. Their songs were a welcomed changed from the vast silences that held the outdoors when winter held sway.  
  
Wufei joined him shortly, the two men sitting in a comfortable quiet for a time before cheerful laughter from the lake. The shout of Duo's voice was heard, followed by Quatre's and the splashing of water. The disgruntled quacking of waterfowl soon followed. Heero emerged from the house carrying a tray of drinks for the trio, setting them down and glancing towards the noise in the distance. "He's going to be complaining to me all night about bites from mad ducks. I told him last time that it's impossible to get rabies from a bird."  
  
A hint of a smile caressed Wufei's lips as he nodded in agreement. "Sally told him the same thing when he went to her proclaiming that you were a liar. He tried to convince her that they had fangs."  
  
Treize snickered softly. "Fangs a mile long last I heard."  
  
The sigh of the Japanese male was the only outward sign he gave of the trials of living with Duo Maxwell-Yuy. Taking a seat on the stairs, he studied Treize silently. The man was nearly back to the same weight he had been before Dorothy's treachery. Lying in bed for a month took its toll on anyone, even Treize Khushrenda. "How is Quatre, Treize? Has he gotten any better?"  
  
The ginger haired man mulled that over before answering, taking a long drink of his tea. "He's getting better, yes. He recognizes me most of the time. Thankfully when he doesn't me, he will Wufei. Sally said he'd always have pieces of his memory missing. He nearly suffocated in that coffin and there was minor brain damage done from either that or what Dorothy fed him. It was blind luck that Wufei had gone out to offer up prayers to Nataku and could hear him under all that dirt, not to mention managed to dig him out in time. He's still the same person the majority of the time. When he isn't, he's like a small child that needs taken care of. Quatre will sometimes forget what he was doing or why, but Sally tells me that's normal and will most likely fade in time. The nightmares are still there, but once he remembers that he's safe, the tears stop."  
  
Another burst of laughter from the lake brought an end to the conversation. Treize stood slowly, letting his balance even out before trying to walk. Quatre and Duo came running towards the house and them, both laughing like lunatics and trying to cover their heads from the waddling geese giving chase. A quick one seized up the end of Duo's braid and gave it a hearty pull before the American shrieked like a girl and dove for the protection of Heero's arms. Quatre took the same route with less force, worming his way into Treize's.  
  
Sunlight glittered across the Arab's hair, setting off the blonde curls like a halo. His blue eyes were clear, something that Treize and Wufei were glad to be seeing more and more of. His 'spells' were less frequent than before as Treize had stated. Even when Quatre was in the midst of one of them, weeping because he felt he was alone and frightened, Treize would gather him up into his arms and sit rocking with him until the tears were gone. He was still the one he'd fallen in love with, for better or worse. Anything was better than the desolation that had followed his believing his lover was dead. Wufei had shown him the secret passages that Quatre had been using to move about the house later, explaining that while he was gone, Quatre had discovered them and amused himself learning them all. Nearly every room had some panel hidden in what looked like a seamless wall or a too heavy appearing mirror that moved aside fluidly.  
  
There was still no real explanation of how Quatre had come to himself so soon or been able to escape Sally Po's watchful eye so often once Treize returned home. She claimed that he would be there sleeping one moment and then gone the next. Wufei thought it was his empathic abilities driving him on, reacting to his lover's misery and wanting to relieve it even if his mind wasn't aware of what he was doing. With his arms curled about Quatre's waist and listening to the tale of The Rabid Ducks of Luxembourgh Estate Lake, Treize decided that he really didn't care. He held in his arms what was most important in his life. The rest was just details.  
  
The End 


End file.
